Lines for US state unemployment benefits grew in late December, pushing up new jobless claims by a surprisingly steep 13,000, the government said today.
Initial claims for unemployment insurance benefits rose to 403,000 in the week ended December 28th from a revised 390,000 the previous week, the US Labor Department said.
The rise was bigger than the average Wall Street expectation for 391,000 claims and well above the previous week's original measure of 378,000.
The rise brought the average weekly rate of new claims over the past four weeks to 418,750 - up from 407,500 in the prior four-week period.
Some economists consider the four-week average a better indicator than weekly claims of the health of the job market and the economy.
The sharper-than-expected jump in initial claims had little effect on US Treasury securities prices, which instead came under pressure from profit-taking and early gains in stock index futures.
However, the Labor Department and economists cautioned about reading too much into one week's figures, especially now when holiday-shortened reporting weeks and bad weather are some factors that can distort weekly jobs data from Thanksgiving until the end of January.